Pickup delegate
Customers can authorize a person to pick up an order on their behalf. With this feature, you need to collect the authorized person’s name and phone number from the customer and then, after Connect order creation, include this data in a create pickup delegate request.
If Instacart handles SMS communications, we can configure your account so that tailored pickup notifications are sent to both the customer’s and the delegate’s phone number. The messages to delegates:
- Inform them that they've been authorized by the customer to pick up the order.
- Notify them when the order is ready for pickup.
- Provide a link to an order status and management application with delegate-scoped access permissions.
The delegate feature is not currently supported on the Instacart-hosted order status page.
Your order status and management application can get pickup instructions from Instacart and display them to delegates. If the pickup type is curbside, you can also provide a form for delegates to enter the type, model, license plate, and color of their vehicle and then send this data in a create vehicle information request.
After delegates notify the store of their arrival, create a user arrived record. Instacart then sends the delegate’s name, phone number, and (if applicable) vehicle information to the runner app.
The following diagram provides a high-level overview of a curbside pickup flow that gives customers the option to authorize a delegate after order creation and uses the Instacart Shopper app for runner management:
For more information about a standard flow that doesn't involve a delegate, see Pickup flow.